


Everybody Loves Mihijo

by Joaquina



Category: Noble Macaw, parrot - Fandom
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-31
Updated: 2012-12-31
Packaged: 2017-11-23 03:38:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/617652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Joaquina/pseuds/Joaquina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This piece was written after my Noble macaw parrot passed away.  Mihijo was my companion and best friend for almost 18 years.  He came home to live with me at the tender age of two and a half months old.  Needless to say this parrot and I have a long history together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Everybody Loves Mihijo

I brought Mihijo, a Noble Macaw parrot, home at two and half months of age in May of 1995. He was just weaned and ready for his new home. The baby parrot was mostly green with teal feathers on his forehead. At about fourteen inches long he weighs about 190 grams before he stuffs his crop full of food and is considered a medium sized parrot mini macaw. It would take about two years for the adult plumage to come out. Also called a Red Shoulder Macaw Mihijo would not develop the red in the shoulders until he was almost two years old. One of the cutest physical features of a Noble macaw is the round large head paired with large round eyes.

The Parrot and the Pastor

Every year the church held a pet blessing. I thought my errant naughty parrot could use some blessing so I asked if it would be okay to bring in a parrot for the pet blessing. The parishioners were plenty excited to learn a parrot would be visiting that Sunday. Most of them have never even seen a parrot so word got around quickly that a small green bird was to visit.

I had spent months teaching Mihijo to learn to kiss properly. When I gave the command “Give me a kiss” the mini macaw was to make the smacking kissing sound and gently touch the top of his beak to the lips of the asker. Instead Mihijo would come at you beak open with tongue sticking out. If you kissed him while he was doing this he was apt to jam his tongue between your lips. No, that will not do at all. I wanted him to learn to kiss properly with some manners. All he had to do at the very least was touch the top of his beak to the lips with no tongue slippage if you please. Over and over I instructed him and over and over he shoved his tongue between my lips. I would touch the top of his beak and say “No Mihijo no tongues”. Again I would instruct “Give me a kiss?” and if he came at me with open beak black parrot tongue sticking out I would touch the top of the beak to close it and say “No Mihijo no tongues.”

Finally he got the message. For several commands in a row he did the trick just right. Mihijo even learned how to make the smacking kissing noise as he touched his beak lightly to the lips. I was so proud of him that I was looking forward to showing off his new trick at the pet blessing. That morning of the pet blessing I tested his knowledge to make sure he knew exactly how to perform the kissing trick. Because he is so smart he performed it perfectly with just enough sass to make the encounter his own.

All through the service Mihijo behaved. He didn’t fly off his straw basket perch onto anyone. He didn’t talk while the Pastor was speaking. He didn’t even crawl down off the basket perch and run around wreaking havoc as he is known to do. This parrot behaved himself like a little angel. I was very proud of him that he behaved so well, even with cats, dogs, and whatever else showed up to be blessed that day.

Finally the Pastor called for people to come forward with their pets so that he could bless them each individually. I got in line with Mihijo and he looks around getting excited by bobbing his head in macaw fashion. He would look at people and say in his flirtatious voice “Hi” drawing out the letter “I”. This parrot enchanted everyone around him. 

Finally it was his turn to be blessed. The Pastor was delighted by the little green bird so he held out his hand for Mihijo to hop up on which he did with no prompting. I told the Pastor how Mihijo loves to give kisses and all you had to do was ask “Give me a kiss”.

“He won’t bite me will he?” The Pastor asks.

“Oh no, He loves to give kisses. Just say ‘give me a kiss.’” I reply eagerly.

The Pastor smiles and looks at Mihijo and says loudly “Give me a kiss?”

Mihijo tilted his head to the side staring the Pastor right in the eye and replies in a loud clear voice.

“NO TONGUES!”

Of course everyone laughed including the Pastor but I was so embarrassed I wanted the parish floor to open up and swallow me whole. I was so mortified all I could say in a stern voice was.

“Mihijo, bad parrot. Bad bad parrot. Say you’re sorry.”

Mihijo pulled his head in closer to his body making himself appear baby like and vulnerable while looking up at the Pastor he said in a small childlike voice.

“Sorry.” He draws out the ‘o’ for the full effect. Lots of oo’s and aw’s were heard as the parrot apologized. 

While still perched on the pastor’s hand he stretches out his head and tilts his head for maximum cuteness effect. 

“Gimmie kiss?” The little green parrot asked in his attempt for forgiveness. Maybe he didn’t want his soul to forever burn in hell.

The pastor touches his lips gently to the little parrot’s beak as Mihijo made the smacking sound of a juicy wet kiss. Everybody loves Mihijo.

The Parrot Becomes an Actor

Back when I had a friend who getting her degree in film directing she told me that I HAD to make a portfolio of my talented parrot and submit it to the local film industry. By this time Mihijo knew many tricks and was both voice and hand signal trained. In those days I had a lot of time to teach the parrot many tricks. Smart as a whip I have never had a pet with such high intelligence as Mihijo so I took great delight in teaching him many normal and abnormal tricks.

Tricks in Mihijo’s repertoire include:

Pull down the lever on light switch to turn off the light with the voice command “turn off the light”.  
Fly to the television to change the channel. With the command “change the channel” would get him to fly to the top of the television and using the word “up” or “down” would dictate whether to peck the top button or the bottom button to get to the channel I wanted.   
Insert the credit/debit card into the ATM machine then take the money from the machine and give the money to me. It was easy to teach him to insert the card into the slot on a ATM machine however after he took the money out of the machine he would not give me the money easily. The money had to be yanked out of his strong beak and a dirty look given.  
Fly to me on command both with voice and hand signal.  
Turn around to the right or to the left on command with voice or hand signal.  
Fetch targeted object and bring it back with both voice and hand signal command.  
Open his wings and fan them out holding them high above his head both with voice and hand signal command.  
When asked “are you plumpy” he would lift up his wings so that you can lightly squeeze his body. He would then say Oooo, Oooo, Oooo”’ like the Pillsbury dough boy while he was gently squeezed.  
Give the High five sign by touching his foot outstretched to your hand. Rather this would be giving the high four since he only has 4 talons on each foot.  
When sprayed with water the parrot would sing in an opera like voice. Mihijo use to do this while taking a shower as well but now he always falls asleep in the shower.  
Command to stay with both voice and hand signal.  
Command to lay down with both voice and hand signal.  
Command to sleep including lying on his back with pulling a little piece of material over his body with both voice and hand signal.

The portfolio included the list of what the parrot can do, how the command is given and pictures of Mihijo performing the commands. Of course a head shot was included in the portfolio to make it all official. Several weeks later I got a call from an agency expressing interest in Mihijo’s abilities. 

The casting call was for a PetCo commercial which required the parrot to have a PetCo card in the beak and walk forward to the camera. This was a very easy thing for Mihjio to do because he already knew how to hold a credit card in his beak and walk with it. He was disciplined enough to be able to do it on queue and smart enough to perform it with hand signals so the shot could not be ruined with having to speak to him. I knew that Mihijo would be able to perform the trick with minimal fuss and believed that they would be able to get him to perform the trick in one take.

We arrived to the casting call and there were a lot of other people there with their parrots. While we waited for our turn I kept Mihijo in his carrier to help keep him safe from germs and viruses. Several people asked if they could see him but I told him I prefer to keep him kenneled until it was time for him to perform. Finally it was our turn and we go into the room where they had set up for the shot. The director went over with me exactly what he wanted the parrot to do along with the timing of how long he wanted the parrot to stand holding the card in his beak and how far to walk him forward while holding the PetCo card. After they had the lighting and camera set up for the shot I took Mihijo out of his carrier and he looks around and says “Hi” in a loud voice. The director frowned at me. 

I set Mihijo down on the table they were using for filming and looked to the director for the signal as to when he wanted to begin. Finally after he nodded his head I gave Mihijo the PetCo card which he took a hold of by his beak and held up my hand signaling him to stay. As I kept my hand held up the little parrot stood as still as a statue holding the credit card in his beak. The director calls “action” so I signal Mihijo to walk forward toward me while holding the card in his beak. The cameraman filmed the mini macaw doing his trick. Before the director called the shot finished Mihijo was still walking forward he says “hi” while still holding the card in his beak. I wanted to laugh because it was really rather funny watching him waddle to me carrying the card and speaking at the same time. Always very in tune to my emotions and his surroundings the parrot then began to bob his head up and down while laughing in my voice. The director yells “CUT!”

Mihijo throws the credit card at the director and starts jumping up and down on the table bobbing his head while laughing hysterically like he had lost his mind. I could not react at first. I just stared at him in total shock as other people in the room began to laugh hysterically along with the parrot. The others reacting just worked up the little green bird all the more. Finally I scooped him up and held him. It took several moments to calm his birdy butt down enough to get him to quit laughing.

The director told me he had enough footage and bid me good day. As I put Mihijo back into his carrier a woman walked up to me and told me she loved the parrot’s personality and thought that he had a very bright future in the film industry. 

Everybody loves Mihijo.


End file.
